WAXQ's Bob Buchmann gets set to sign off

Tuesday, August 12th 2008, 4:00 AM

Bob Buchmann

Ten years ago, when Bob Buchmann was program director at WBAB (102.3 FM) on Long Island, he read a statement from a manager at WNEW-FM (102.7 FM) that rock radio could no longer work in New York.

"I found that so totally wrong," he says, "that I called the people at AM-FM, who then owned WAXQ (104.3 FM), and asked if their programming job was still open. It became my personal mission to prove that statement wrong."

Mission accomplished, pardon the phrase.

After a decade as an unapologetic "classic rock" station, WAXQ has risen from 14th place among 25- to 54-year-olds to within a hair of No. 1.

Part of that boost comes from the fact that Arbitron's new Portable People Meter (PPM) measuring system likes rock formats. But even before that WAXQ had steadily moved up, staying the course while rival stations like WNEW-FM and even the venerable WCBS-FM decided they had to reinvent themselves.

"We always took the long view," says Buchmann, "You can get a quick bounce by a TV ad campaign, but that's not the way we wanted to do it. If you build one listener at a time, they'll stay with you."

The formula there, he says, is the basics: music and personalities.

"I grew up around here," he says. "I remember WPLJ and WNEW. I know what people liked to hear on those stations, and how they liked to hear it.

"That's why we go deeper than a lot of classic rock stations, and why we let the deejays pick some of their own songs. They know our audience, too."

Okay, there have been a few goofs along the way. "One day Peter Gabriel phoned the station and was put on-air live," Buchmann recalls. "It was a credible, lively conversation until he got into his sex life with Phil Collins. Obviously a hoax, and we bought it hook, line and sinker."

But you laugh and move on - and most of the times were better, like when morning host Jim Kerr signed on. "That," says Buchmann, "was one of my favorite days."

So now, he says, "It's time to take a deep breath. I've been doing this for almost 30 years, counting WBAB, and I'm ready."

From 2 to 4 this afternoon, then, he will host his final WAXQ shift - from the house of old friend Billy Joel, which is a nice touch.

From there, he takes a vacation in Massachusetts and thinks things over.

"I'll be back in New York this fall for a fund-raiser," he says. "Otherwise, I don't know. I love radio. I love programming and I love being on the air. So I may not be out of the game for long."

David Hinckley